Pope to visit Colombia in September

Pope Francis will visit Colombia in September. CNS

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will be visiting Colombia in
mid-September as the Latin American nation works to implement a new peace deal
and rebuild after 52 years of war.

The Vatican announced March 10 that the pope had accepted the
invitation of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Colombian bishops.

The trip, Sept. 6-11, will include visits to the cities of
Bogota, Villavicencio, Medellin and Cartagena. Details of the trip were to be
published at a later date.

Pope Francis will be the third pope to visit the nation after
Blessed Paul VI and St. John Paul II. The previous papal visit there was 31
years ago in 1986.

The bishops' conference posted on their website the trip logo:
the pope smiling and walking flanked by the white and yellow colors of the
Vatican on one side and an early indigenous symbol on the other. The motto is
"Let us take the first step" ("Demos el primer paso").

Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio to Colombia, said:
"The pope wants to come to meet the Colombian people; he comes for those
who live in the cities and for those who live in the countryside and have a
different culture and needs; for the rich and for the poor; for the youth and
for the elderly."

Archbishop Balestrero also noted that the pope will only visit
Colombia on this trip, he said in a statement he gave at a news conference and
published online on the conference website.

"It is rare that the pope visits only one country and that
he stays there for four days. This shows the importance that (Pope) Francis
attributes to this visit and, ultimately, to Colombia," he said.